Campus Construction Update spent a few minutes on March 28 watching the obliteration of the houses in which we had worked until last fall: 141 and 145 Nichols St., the former home of the 乐播传媒 Communications Office.

On that sunny morning we were part of a small group that included, at various times, passing staff and students, the treasurer of 乐播传媒, BCO colleagues, Consigli Construction staff including Superintendent Stacey Harris, and Chris Streifel, the Facility Services project manager overseeing the creation of the 乐播传媒 science building that will occupy the demolition site.

The buildings came down fast, and our timing was not ideal. We pretty much missed the ruination of 145, where the college鈥檚 digital communications and design experts once were stationed. But we did arrive in time to watch a Gendron & Gendron Inc. excavator tamp the building鈥檚 remains into the cellar hole. Someone sprayed water over the debris to settle the dust as the excavator punched down the wood, siding, and wallboard.

The demolition of 145 Nichols St., March 28, 2019. (Jay Burns/乐播传媒 College).

The tamping gave the big Volvo a firm place to stand as it moved over to 141. Late for a meeting, we nevertheless stuck around for the start of that operation. It was hard to look away: not just because of our lingering attachment to the houses, but because the excavator made the formidable task of knocking down a building look like cutting an angel food cake.

We perceived a slight chiming of cosmic irony as the excavator took its very first bite of 141 very close to the former Campus Construction Update Penthouse. (We also perceived some regret upon realizing that our 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom Black Beauty guitar was still in the penthouse, along with our checkbook.)

Mise en place: Here鈥檚 a geographical refresher: Opposite Carnegie Science Hall, the site of the new science building is bounded by Campus Avenue on the north; Bardwell and Nichols streets to the east and west; and along the south, a wandering property line.

All that building demolition marked a crescendo, but not an ending, in the process of site preparation that had begun 10 days earlier as Consigli, the firm managing the construction of the science building, began mobilization activities at the site.

Excavators on the science building work site. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

A Basham Tree Service arborist at work high up on the east side of the science building construction site on March 21, 2019. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

Seen through Gate A, opening onto Bardwell Street, two excavators rearrange the soil at the science building construction site. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

To improve ground stability and drainage, sitework contractor Gendron & Gendron has removed existing soils from the science building site and replaced them with prepared materials such as the gray crushed stone visible in the middle distance. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

This pit in the southeast corner of the science facility construction site will be a detention pond for unwanted water. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

Mobilization got off to a quick start. The site was fenced in by the 19th. Removing trees and brush began the following day and was nearly done by the 21st, with usable lumber salvaged for milling or pulping, depending on the type of tree. Excavators grubbed out tree roots and various pavements as solar-powered seismographs, placed near homes and buildings outside the site perimeter, monitored vibration levels.

With the houses gone on the 28th, their remains joined the outflow of foliage, broken-up pavement, earth, boulders, and other unwanted materials that has kept a fleet of dump trucks buzzing around the site like diesel-powered bees.

And what鈥檚 happening now is getting the land itself ready to accommodate all the machines, materials, and humans who will actually build a building. Or, in 乐播传媒 project manager Chris Streifel鈥檚 words, 鈥減utting in a lot of work that鈥檚 needed to be able to do the real work.鈥�

A student checks his phone as he passes the newly fenced-in site of 乐播传媒’ future science building on March 19, 2019. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

You could also liken this phase to the French culinary term mise en place, the practice of organizing your ingredients and tools before you cook something. But a key difference between the building project and making coq au vin is that Consigli and Gendron & Gendron, the subcontractor executing the site prep, are dealing primarily with dirt.

Much of the soil at the site is mixed with stuff, like clay, organic material, and random soils, that for various reasons makes it unsuitable to build on. 鈥淚f you see those signs by the roadside asking for clean fill,鈥� says Streifel, 鈥渢his isn’t it.鈥�

So even before foundation digging gets underway, much of the existing soil is being removed and replaced with materials with known characteristics. And the terrain also needs to be contoured specifically for the project. Therefore, a lot of what鈥檚 been happening at the site is, in the simplest sense, just moving dirt around.

In the southeast corner, across Bardwell Street from Chu Hall, a pit has been dug that, from now until the end of time, or for at least the lifespan of the science building, will handle unwanted rainwater from the site.

In the short term, 鈥渁ny water that runs into the building excavation will get pumped out to that pond,鈥� says Streifel. 鈥淚t’ll be filtered and treated before it either leaches back into the ground or, if there’s enough, it’ll be filtered and directed to the city stormwater system.鈥�

To improve ground stability and drainage, sitework contractor Gendron & Gendron has removed existing soils from the science building site and replaced them with prepared materials such as the gray crushed stone visible in the middle distance. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

Eventually the pond will be made over with appropriate soils and drainage infrastructure.

Then there鈥檚 site access. The project began with a single entrance on Campus Avenue, introducing a lot of new traffic 鈥� dump trucks! 鈥� to an already busy thoroughfare. That entrance will see less and less use.

A new gate has been opened on Bardwell, with another to follow on Nichols Street. A rectangular expanse between those gates, which will ultimately be the parking lot for the science building, will provide site access and space for gear and materials. That work is about half done.

Last but not least in the mise en place department, one of these days Consigli will set up its portable field office on a grassy patch on Bardwell 鈥� near the same location the firm used for the two years of the Chu and Kalperis project.

Fixing a hole: The preparations for construction are all very interesting (we just have to keep rereading what we wrote about the drainage pond) 鈥� but we are pleased to point out that, probably by next week, actual construction of the science building will begin.

Seen through Gate A, opening onto Bardwell Street, two excavators rearrange the soil at the science building construction site. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

In this phase, it鈥檚 鈥渃onstruction鈥� in the sense of removing something rather than building something. Still, you have to start somewhere, and the science building construction will start with the excavation of a hole for its foundation.

This project differs from other recent construction at 乐播传媒 in that the hole will come very close to three sides of the construction site. As we explained previously, if there鈥檚 a lot of room around your cellar hole, you can give the sides a nice shallow slope to keep them from collapsing.

Since that amount of free space doesn鈥檛 exist here, three sides of the hole will be shored up with corrugated metal sheets driven into the ground 鈥� temporary retaining walls.

As Streifel explains, the first phase of excavation will remove soil to a 5-foot depth across the entire footprint of the building. 鈥淥nce they have the five feet removed, they鈥檒l get started with the shoring. And they’ll need the shoring to go in before they can go any deeper.鈥�

Ultimately, most of the hole will be roughly 15 feet deep. Some spots will go as deep as 20 in order to accommodate building systems that we鈥檒l tell you about in a future CCU.

Can we talk? Please send your thoughts about past, present, future, and speculative 乐播传媒 construction projects to Doug Hubley. Please put 鈥淐onstruction Update鈥� or 鈥淚 have your Les Paul鈥� in the subject line.

Seen over the construction fence, here’s another view of 141 Nichols St. on March 28, with Carnegie Science, Chase, and Chu halls in the background. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

Behold the first construction on the site of 乐播传媒’ new science building: A plywood and brick mockup built to give project architect Payette a few brick and mortar samples to consider.

鈥淭hey want to see them in relation to Chu, Chase, and Carnegie halls,鈥� explains Chris Streifel, the Facility Services project manager for the science building.

Located on Campus Avenue at the former site of a house used by the politics department, the mockup is a very early step in an aspect of the design process that typically takes painstaking deliberation. After all, changing the brick exterior of a building is not as easy as repainting your house.

The custom-made angled bricks at lower center hint at the distinctive contours of the new science building. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

鈥淭his is a test of a few concepts that will help answer questions about the selections and specifications for design materials,鈥� Streifel explains. 鈥淎 much more elaborate mock-up will be constructed next year that will involve many of the exterior materials and conditions, and will be extensively tested and documented.鈥�

Announced in May, construction of the science building itself will follow the demolition of two 乐播传媒-owned houses and a ramshackle garage early next spring. The biology and geology departments have used the garage for storage, and the houses, at 141 and 145 Nichols St., have been home to the 乐播传媒 Communications Office since the late 1990s.

The mockup will be around for a few weeks. It鈥檚 the first construction on the actual science building site, but not the first related to that project: During the summer, cabling and an electrical vault near Chase Hall were installed to supply power to the new building, scheduled for completion by autumn 2021.

“I’m smiling right now,” said Chris Streifel as he conducted Campus Construction Update on a whirlwind tour of labs and classrooms in Carnegie Science Hall. “Things are good.”

Specifically, what was good was the feel of the air in those different spaces. After a few days of fine-tuning to relieve inconsistent and sometimes uncomfortable temperature and humidity, Carnegie’s ventilation system was more or less stabilized by our visit on July 25, itself an uncomfortably muggy day.

Fine-tuning because why? Because Carnegie’s rooftop HVAC plant, which heats, cools, and moves air throughout the building, was shut down for a major overhaul on July 21 and a guest unit was subbed in.

The substitute is hard to miss: a big metal box on a flatbed trailer between Carnegie and Chase, connected to the science hall’s ventilation ductwork by huge fabric hoses that snake down from the roof like a waterfall by Christo.

In the effort to optimize Carnegie’s air since the weekend switcheroo, Facility Services staff, including project manager Streifel, have tweaked airflow controls inside the building, and technicians from the Auburn firm Thayer Corp., mechanical contractor for the overhaul project, have adjusted the temporary unit. By mid-week, conditions were pretty much right.

Climate inside Carnegie isn’t merely a matter of personal comfort: Much of the research undertaken there by 乐播传媒 faculty and students, some of it representing years of work, could be disrupted by extremes of temperature and humidity.

Even more conspicuous than the big white air ducts on Carnegie’s east facade were the visits from a crane on the Historic Quad side. The Grove-built crane, sent by Auburn’s Cote Corp. and staffed by an operator and three riggers, was here on July 13 and again July 20鈥�24.

In the first visit, the Cote crew lifted HVAC components and tools to Carnegie’s roof and removed, among other things, the three dish antennae that have distinguished the roofline for years. Installed around 1990 to pull in satellite communications such as of foreign-language TV and radio, the antennae were made obsolete by the internet.

The extreme height of the dishes helped Cote determine what size crane to send over. As explained by Dan Cote, vice president of operations, the 90-ton-capacity crane had the reach to pluck off the dishes, but was light and compact enough to leave only fond memories behind 鈥� that is, no damage to Quad turf or foliage.

During the crane’s four-day visit, old HVAC components were taken down and their replacements 鈥� notably core items like air heating and cooling coils, new intake fans, a replacement motor and blades for the exhaust fan, etc. 鈥� were hoisted up. Cote will dispatch the crane to 乐播传媒 one more time to remove tools and debris near the end of the overhaul.

While 乐播传媒 is no stranger to cranes and rooftop work, Streifel points out that the physical extremes of this project 鈥� its height, the weight of components to be craned up, the mechanical complexity 鈥� make it a rarity for the college. “You have to think outside the box on ways to attack it,” he says.

With the Drifters crooning softly in the back of our mind, we went up on the roof on the 25th. Situated near the greenhouse, the air handler resembles a small building (albeit with a gaping hole cut one side to accommodate the overhaul). In fact, it’s often referred to as the penthouse (not to be confused with the Campus Construction Update penthouse).

Carnegie Science Hall’s rooftop in July 2018: The penthouse appears at right in this image from the 16th. Collapsible air ducts ready to connect. Cooling coils await installation on the 23rd. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

What route does air take through the penthouse? Outside air, aka supply air, enters on the side facing Coram and Ladd libraries, and is regulated by dampers, like those things that flap in your furnace when the wind blows.

Then the air travels through a series of components for treatment: filters to remove dust, etc., coils that use hot or cold water to adjust the air temperature, and supply-air fans that push it down into the building’s labyrinth of ductwork. Ducts then circulate air back up to the penthouse for expulsion outside by the exhaust, or return-air, fan.

Inside the penthouse, airtight doors isolate the structure’s two working “rooms.” The first air chamber you enter is the supply room. This is where the filters and the heating and cooling coils live, as well as the supply-air fans. Six new fans have replaced the old singleton and are covered with metal louvers, forming a sort of wall.

Behind that wall is where treated supply air enters building ductwork. Right now that space is sealed off with sheet plastic while it serves the rental HVAC machine. If you press your hand on the plastic you can feel the air pressure stiffening it.

At left is the return-air fan; at right is the supply-air chamber in the Carnegie penthouse. Air-heating apparatus is located at right. (Doug Hubley/乐播传媒 College)

The chamber at the rear of the penthouse is the return room. Here, along with pipes and valves installed at just the right height to gouge a careless visitor’s scalp, lurks the return air fan. Resembling a jet engine from the front, this machine is formidable and deeply embedded in the air handler’s structure. As its housing is still usable, replacing the motor and blades was sufficient for the overhaul.

When we visited, the new filters and heating coil were in place and the cooling coils sat outside on the roof waiting their turn. They are squat heavy units and we didn’t envy the workers who, later in the day, would be using lift tables and a lot of elbow grease to wrestle them into place.

Replacement of the major components is certainly timely 鈥� the originals were 28 years old, and a failure of any of them, as Streifel puts it, would have been “catastrophic,” as the building has no backup HVAC. But the immediate impetus for the entire Carnegie HVAC project involved the old cooling coils.

These condense lots of moisture out of the air, and the pan installed to capture and drain that moisture was failing. This led to water leaking into offices and labs below 鈥� including a lab we visited where, in a slightly more evolved version of stockpot-under-the-roof-leak technology, a plastic tube ran from a ceiling tile to a sink.

“The pan was replaced as much as possible at one point,” Streifel explained. “But the leaks we couldn鈥檛 address were underneath the old cooling coil. To take the coil out is a major operation, and so once you start with that 鈥� you鈥檙e not going to go in and do that level of work and not replace other aging components.”

With a dozen or two workers on the site up to 12 hours a day, every day, throughout the project, Streifel anticipates that the rooftop work itself will be complete by mid-August. Then will follow a couple of weeks of system-wide testing and tweaking, as well as moving stuff back into the fifth floor that was deranged for the overhaul.

“We鈥檝e gotten through a lot of the hard stuff,” he said. While he’s loathe to rule out surprises that could slow things down, “I feel good about where we鈥檙e at and where we鈥檙e heading.”

Things to Come, Places to Go: A July 26 directional-drilling project on Campus Avenue provided a portent of the new science building that’s coming to 乐播传媒 in 2021.

Consigli Construction, who is managing the science-building project for 乐播传媒, was working with electricians and a drilling crew to tunnel under the pavement. This was the construction equivalent of laparoscopic surgery: Enterprise Trenchless Technologies of Lisbon Falls sent a remote-control drill under and across the street, and pulled a plastic conduit through the tunnel.

Meanwhile, workers from Consigli and Enterprise Electric, also of Lisbon Falls, planted an electrical vault in the vicinity of Chase Hall. The vault and conduit will ultimately route power to the science building.

As we’ve reported, the science building will be located, more or less, where Campus Construction Update is sitting and writing these words. The CCU penthouse on Nichols Street is too small to accommodate the science building, so we’ll be moving to Lane Hall, along with the rest of the 乐播传媒 Communications Office staff.

A mid-July visit to Lane’s ground floor revealed an expanse of shiny metal wall studs that mapped the intriguing layout of BCO’s future home.

Since 2002, BCO has been divided between two wooden houses on Nichols, with the design and digital ops teams in one and the editorial and photographic teams in the other. So the Lane Hall offices will return the communications team to a unified space 鈥� and, in fact, has been designed not just to make cross-function collaborations more likely, but to encourage them.

The emphasis on fruitful collaboration was 鈥渙ne of the main drivers behind the design and something we hope will set the BCO project apart,” says Shelby Burgau, who’s managing the project for Facility Services.

鈥淲e recognize the varying work styles and the need to meet with folks outside of one鈥檚 office, so a number of different spaces will be provided.”

In fact, the layout will make it all but impossible for BCO staff to avoid each other.

Priority has gone to completing three rooms 鈥� a lactation room, break area, and trash-staging room 鈥� that serve the whole building and had been taken out of service for the start of the project. Demolition and asbestos abatement began June 4, and the project reached a turning point roughly a month later as framing-in began.

As of July 26, framing was complete, utilities rough-ins were done for the three early-completion spaces, and sheetrocking of those spaces was in progress. They are expected to open to the public at the end of August. BCO will move in mid-to-late fall.

Can we talk? Send your questions and comments about past, current, and future construction at 乐播传媒 to Doug Hubley. Please put 鈥淐onstruction Update鈥� or 鈥淔ine-tuning because why?鈥� in the subject line.